Posting advice for REALLY long novels...

[wife2hotblk]

I have completed my first novel. It is a little over 31,000. I had originally started as a chapter story in the Interracial Love, but am going to ask for it to be moved. Obviously 31,000 words is a tad long, but I also know that each submission in that category must be 7,500 words. My question for those who write longer stories is what would be in the best interest of the reader four - 7,500 word submissions; two - 15,000 words or just the whole thing at once.

 

[oggbashan]

31,000 words is NOT long.

300,000 words might be.

Just post it as a single story UNLESS you wrote it with cliff-hanger chapter breaks that make it easy to split into shorter parts.

Og (writer of long and very short stories)

PS. The minimum length for a story is 750 words, not 7,500. I write 50-word stories but submit 15 of them as a set to make the 750 minimum.

 

[fieryjen]

First oif all, the posting limit of 7500 for N&N is valid only for the Survivor Contest. If you don't plan on entering your novel into that you don't have to worry about it. if you do, the story needs to be either in N&N or posted as one.

Second, for a novel 31,000 words is actually quite short.

 

[Vermilion]

Second, for a novel 31,000 words is actually quite short.

More of a novella really...

I'd say 50 or 60k words would be more novel length, and even then not a very long one.

 

[wife2hotblk]

Thanks...

For the quick and clear responses. I was thinking it long based upon the 7,500 limit and some of publishers guidelines which have novels as 30K, long novels as 60k and super novels as 90k. But I think I shall follow all of your wonderful advice and once my editor is done, simply submit is as a single work.

 

[sr71plt]

For the quick and clear responses. I was thinking it long based upon the 7,500 limit and some of publishers guidelines which have novels as 30K, long novels as 60k and super novels as 90k. But I think I shall follow all of your wonderful advice and once my editor is done, simply submit is as a single work.

My own observation is that, at least until you get an established reader base, you would attract more readers by not going over two Lit. pages with a single posting (ergo not much more than 7,000 words). I think there are a whole bunch of readers who won't keep something open that they see goes longer than that. The definition of a short story is something that can be read in one sitting--which probably also holds well for the tolerance level of a significant number of readers on Lit. for longer works.

And the industry standard for novel length is 72,000 words. (Having much to do with the cost-effectiveness of printing/marketing a novel.)

31,000 words is a short novella. Marketable as an e-book but not as a print book (again because of the cost-effectivenss of printing/marketing).